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Red Force, Jaguars Battle Take Spotlight

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua (WICB) -- Results from the previous round have come together to produce what should be an intriguing seventh round of matches in the Digicel Regional 4-Day Tournament, starting tomorrow.

Victories in their previous match have set the stage for a feisty battle at Queen’s Park Oval between Trinidad & Tobago Red Force, under new captain Kyle Hope, and front-running, defending champions Guyana Jaguars, under West Indies batsman Leon Johnson, in a match to be televised around the region on pay-per-view channel, SportsMax.

At the same time, Barbados Pride, the other sixth-round winner, hope to cut the deficit between themselves and the leaders, when they face Windward Islands Volcanos at Kensington Oval.

In the other match, second-placed Jamaica Scorpions and bottom-placed Leeward Islands Hurricanes, two of the losing teams from the previous round, seek to gain ground under the lights at Sabina Park.

In Port of Spain, Trinidad: Hope, the Barbados-born batsman, will lead the Red Force for the first time on T&T soil, hoping that home advantage breeds success for his side against the seemingly unstoppable Jaguars.

The Red Force got a boost of confidence when they beat the Volcanoes in the previous round, at the same time that the Jaguars brushed aside previous leaders Jamaica Scorpions on the road to further underline their dominance in this form of the game over the past three seasons.

History is against the Red Force, having lost four of their last five matches against the Jaguars, including two at the same venue for this weekend’s contest, and they will also have to temper their excitement from last weekend’s victory which was against the same side they beat in the first round before going on to lose three of their next four matches.

In Bridgetown, Barbados: The third-placed Pride will be looking for a huge bag of points to keep the Jaguars within sight, if not reach, against a side that typically rise to the challenge against this opponent.

The Pride had an easy victory over the Hurricanes, but the Volcanoes would have taken a hit from their defeat.

Entering this match, the Volcanoes can take heart in the knowledge that they have won three of the last seven matches between the two sides at this venue.

In Kingston, Jamaica: Apart from each other, the two teams will have to come to grips with the vagaries of the pink ball under the lights, as they look to recover from morale-denting losses in the previous round.

The second-placed Scorpions will be hoping to give proof that last weekend’s defeat to the Jaguars was a minor setback and the Hurricanes will be looking for the kind of form they showed early in the season, putting them among the front-runners.

The Scorpions however, will favour the venue for this match, since they have not lost to the Hurricanes at Sabina Park over the last eight years, which has seen the two teams contest four matches there.